There’s something meta about Beth Yarnelle Edwards photographs. In them, she re-creates scenarios from people’s daily suburban lives and the actors she casts play themselves in their own homes. The scenes hinge between authentic and artificial – and all are completely compelling.

An extensive exhibition of Edwards work titled “Suburban Dreams” opens at the Oakland Museum of California this weekend. On display are 22 large-scale color photographs taken from 1997 to 2006 that depict the lives of people—from blue-collar workers to wealthy executives—in their Silicon Valley homes.

“They are authentic scenes from daily life recreated for the camera,” said Edwards during a press preview for the show. “I call it being a ‘stalker of the real.’ It’s more than just a snapshot.”